Black money: 'Warehouse' of tax data for I-T in the offing

As part of its vigour to trackblack money in country's economic channels, the I-T department is creating a new "warehouse" of business related intelligence and funds data which will empower the taxman to check multiple trends of expenses made by individuals and entities.

As part of its vigour to track black money in country's economic channels, the I-T department is creating a new "warehouse" of business related intelligence and funds data which will empower the taxman to check multiple trends of expenses made by individuals and entities.

The Income Tax department, which already has databases to undertake a 360-degree profiling of a person based on PAN card information or debit or credit card usage, has named the new project -- Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence (DWBI), which it plans to operationalise by next year.

The proposal to activate this powerful and state-of-the-art database and a host of other unique investigative tools was recently approved by the top brass of the I-T department and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) during the annual conference of the Chief Commissioners and Directors General of I-T held in the national capital.

"The department is now scouting for a land and space for basing the project somewhere in north India. The new database will collate all electronic and manual intelligence and other information collected by the investigation and snoop wings of the department," a senior I-T officer said.

The DWBI project, according to a blueprint prepared by the CBDT, envisages to "streamline and enhance the non-intrusive surveillance capabilities of the I-T and for harnessing the potential of information being collected."

The warehouse will not only store and add to it information that the I-T database has till now like PAN card information, tax returns and a host of banking related information, it will also have the ability to generate information from the open source available on the Internet.

The I-T department, over the years, has decided to gradually move from regular search and survey operations to non-intrusive methods of data mining through electronic databases and information available through electronic portals of banking and other financial intermediaries.

The department, through this new data warehouse, has decided to bring on one platform the portals of both its investigation and criminal investigation units in an attempt to widen the tax base and check undisclosed income.

The I-T department already has a Integrated Taxpayer Data Management System (ITDMS) which keeps a track of the electronic spending of an individual, entity or a taxpayer.